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MAssAonnsEr'rs, ASSIGNORS or TH EE-Finns 0 THEIR RIGHT H. woonnURY, WILLIAM E. GRAY, AND OHARLES H. DREW.

BENJAMIN E. WRIGHT, OF OHARLESTQWN, AND JOHN ROWE, JR, 0E WILMINGTON,

TO SETH Letters Patent No. 105,759, dated July 26, 1870.

IMPRQYi-I'lhllithlf m Panrunnret .uawume son use IN CHAIR-sears.

ll-he referred. to these Letters Patent and making pan of the name To all whont it ntayqonceru:

Be it known "that we, BENJAMBT F. WRIGHT, of

Gharlestown, tate 1f Massachusetts, and JOHN ROWE, Jr., ofWilmingtonQinsaid State, have invented certain new and useful [Improvements in the Process of Prepa ing Rawhide for Use in Chair- .Satsjand wedo herebydeclare that the follow- .ing is -a full, clear, and; exact description of the same: l a As drawings are not necessary, in our judgment, to a fnllnnderstanding ofour invention, we have not deemed it proper to prepare any.

Our invention relates to the proper preparation of rawhide forchair-seats, so that it shall be free from all odor, and from all grease or oil, and shall be .colore'd'or polished, or both. 1

It of. course, obvious that rawhide, while in many respects it would make a valuable chair-seat,

yet would be decidedly unfit for that purpose unless measuresw'ere taken to remove the unpleasant odor frequently found in iaaudto remove the grease and chin it, so that, when used as a seat, there shall be no danger of soiling the clothes of one" who may a use it; r a

' Also, it is obvious that iffth'e' hide has a rough surface, it will quicklybecome, soiled, and will then be difiieult-toclean; whilc,=if it is smooth or polished,

it will sell with great diificulty,as well as present a more tasteful appearance.

Also, the. employment of strips of rawhide, of various'colors, interwoven in such pattern as taste may suggest, or makingtheseat entirely of strips "of one color, other than-the natural color of the. l1ide,will make a tasteful, and even beautiful seat.

i All these objects I secure by my invention.

We -first take rawhide, as it is usually found in the market, and having first taken off the hair, in the method usually employed-in the trade, ,to deprive it of any odor, or prevent it acquiring one, we submit it to the action of bran, or what is called. by-those in the trade, a bran drench. The par.- ticular modeof doing this will not require explanation, as it iswell known in the art of preparing hides.

we then strip the hide in small strips from the this is to first cut the: hide into large circular or oval pieces, and then to cut'acontinnons strip from the edge of the several. pieces, until the whole piece is cut up..

This may be easily done in the well-known way of causing the piece to becutup into strips to re- Volve about its center, bringing the edge against a knife so placed as to cut a strip of proper thickness.

\Ve do not, however, confine ourselves to this method of cutting, although we stronglyrecommend that it be cut in a continuous strip, and we believe this will be found to be, from its great saving as compared with other methods, by fart-he best that can be adopted.

. Still the hide'may be cut in any other suitable manner, and it may be first split into pieces about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and then cut into strips. I We next deprive the strips of hide of all grease or oil, by subjecting them to the action of some alkali. We prefer to use sal-soda for this purpose, although any other alkali will answer, and possibly some other may-dons well. h

The mode of applying the alkali is to immerse the strips in a solution of the salsoda, or by passing the strips through it. They require to be exposed to its action, from one to two minutes.

' The solution should contain about ten pounds of sal soda to one barrel of water.

WVe next impart a polish to the strips, if they are not to be colored. This may he done in any suita-' ble manner, but we prefer to pass them through rollers, which will have the client to press the fibers closer together, and impart a more durable and more polished surface to the strip, and we recommend thatthis mode he adopted.

If the strips are to be colored, we color them immediately after they have been dried, after the actionof the alkali.

As raw-hide, previously deprived of i ts oil, will readily take almost any dyeing-material,and as our method of dyeing is not a peculiar one, no other explanation of this. is. necessary than to say that the strips need to be subjected to the action of the dyeing-material but a'short time, say about one minute, or even less.

After the desired color has been imparted, we polish the strips in the manner above stated.

. We do not desire to claim a seat made of rawhide -strips, as that has already been secured by Letters Patent granted to BENJAMIN l WRIGHT. We consider that this invention is materially different from that, inasmuch as his invention does not relate to the process of preparing the material, nor does he .look to its preparation in the manner and by the priving it of all grease and oil, cutting it in a continnous strip, polishing the strips or imparting a smooth surface to them, and coloring or dyeing them; we do not claim either of these processes separately, but the whole of them in combination as one process, substantially in the manner above described.

2. The process of preparing rawhide for use in chair-seats and analogous purposes, by depriving the same of odor, or preventing'its acquiring an odor, depriving it of all grease and oil, cutting it in a continnous strip, and polishing the strips or imparting a smooth surface to them; we do not claim either of these processes "separately, but the whole of them in combination as one process, substantially as above set forth.

BENJ. F. WRIGHT. JOHN ROWE, JR. Witnesses:

WILLIAM T'. GRAY, CHARLES DREW. 

